Although mechanization has been introduced in the harvesting of a large number of agricultural commodities, soft fruit, such as peaches, destined for the fresh market is nevertheless still picked by hand due to its extreme sensitivity to bruising.
Various attempts have been made to successfully harvest soft fruit, mainly by the shake and catch method of harvesting. In this method most damage to the fruit is caused by contact between the fruit and tree branches along its fall.
Extensive research and development efforts have been made in an attempt to reduce damage to fruit falling through a tree. A multi-level catching system is proposed in an article by Millier, W. F. et al entitled, "A tree fruit harvester with an insertable multilevel catching system" ASAE paper No. 72-651. American Society of Agricultural Engineers. St. Joseph Mo. It has also been proposed to pad the fruit or the branches during harvesting or to fill the tree space with light-weight, impact absorbing particles during shaking.
None of the above proposals has been found acceptable for commercial implementation due to problems of pollution, toxicity and operational difficulties.